To be effective within an organization, project managers need to have a wide variety of skills and abilities. Included among these are: creating and executing on a vision; motivating others; influencing without authority; networking; communicating up, down and laterally; negotiating; managing stakeholders; and managing conflict.
This highly interactive workshop focuses on building the soft skills that are critical to leading a team and creating sustainable business change. Participants will gain insight into the social science as well as the brain science behind motivating and empowering others. They will learn and experiment with a variety of influencing strategies and tactics. Working in pairs as well as small groups, they will collaborate with others to brainstorm, share experiences, and apply concepts to everyday challenges.
Participants will also discover their personal communication preferences, strengths, and blind spots and will gain insight into how best to communicate with others they find “difficult.” They will gain insight into managing the people side of change, learning strategies for dealing with each step in the process. Hands-on negotiation and conflict management activities enhance the theoretical learning, grounding it in real life and making it actionable.
Interweaving role play with experiential learning and group activities, this course will help participants refine a skill set that is invaluable to their organization, and one that transfers easily across their professional and personal lives.
Prerequisites:
- A basic understanding of project management fundamentals or other project management training courses.
Who Should Attend
- Project managers
- Project directors
- PMO members
- Project specialists
- Project team members
At the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Explain the importance of vision in driving motivation and engagement
- Apply science-based research to better motivate those around you
- Strategically leverage both personal and positional power to achieve positive project results
- Determine influencing and networking strategies needed for personal growth
- Identify ways to problem solve communication challenges when others have different personality styles
- Connect stakeholder expectations to project success criteria
- Assess key stakeholders across various dimensions of complexity
- Apply the four rules of principled negotiation to a real-life conflict situation
- Recognize key aspects of a physiological response to conflict
- Utilize selected tools and techniques to “defuse” an emotional situation
- Leverage various strategies and tactics to successfully deal with ambiguity at work
Course Topics
Getting Started / Foundation Concepts
- Introductions
- Course structure, goals, and objectives
- Beginning a personal action plan
Managing Vision and Purpose / Motivating Others
- Communicating and aligning around vision
- Tying the present to the future
- The importance of purpose
- The art and science of motivation
Networking and Influencing
- Positive politics and project success
- Types of power within organizations
- Power and influence
- Networking best practices
Communication
- The medium and the message
- Personality and communication styles
- Communication challenges
Stakeholder Management and Negotiation
- Identifying stakeholders
- Analyzing stakeholders
- Negotiation basics
- Principled negotiation
Conflict Management
- Dynamics of conflict
- The anatomy of conflict
- Conflict management approaches and tools
- Dealing with ambiguity
Summary and Next Steps
- Key concepts review
- Creating your personal action plan
This course is available for "remote" learning and will be available to anyone with access to an internet device with a microphone (this includes most models of computers, tablets). Classes will take place with a "Live" instructor at the date/times listed below.
Upon registration, the instructor will send along additional information about how to log-on and participate in the class.
School Notes: Note: International Institute for Learning may reach out to you directly for additional information prior to your class starting date.
